Category: Innovation

The online marketplace for odd jobs, TaskRabbit, has been acquired by Ikea. To truly understand the significance of this acquisition, its important to understand both sides; Ikea’s Motivations – Why would it want to acquire a gig marketplace? TaskRabbit’s Motivations – Why would a startup’s founder and investors accept a relatively early exit (only after Series C)? Let me try to expand on each of the above. Please do share your thoughts and feedback. IKEA’s Motivation to Acquire TaskRabbit Ikea …

The news of Toys ‘R’ Us’s bankruptcy is widely received by the consumers (parents and kids) and the retail industry. However, some other retail bankruptcies, this was not “another retailer killed by Amazon” scenario. In fact, what drove them to their grave was: Their financing strategy of private equity (mostly debt) and How their financial strategy influenced their priorities and focus for innovation Let me expand on what I mean by their financing strategy and how that influenced the company. …

These days it seems like that the popular media mostly highlights the inevitable doom of brick-and-mortar retailers and the boom of online retailers such as amazon and alibaba. However, in doing so, it is easy to overlook the valuable lessons thought by previous disruptive innovations in brick-and-mortar retailers and what building blocks made them successful before e-commerce stole the limelight of popular media. To do that, below, I will study these past disruptions of retailing – heavily influenced by Clayton …